Tuesday, November 20, 2007

As you all know by now, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr will announce he is stepping down today at a 10 a.m. press conference. Going to have a lot to say about this, but want to wait until after he speaks instead of rushing something out beforehand.

He will be impossible to replace. I agree, the fact that he stated the new head coach would have time to talk to recruits, and the Bo not a Michigan man, really tips the scales against Les Miles and that might be a good thing.

Thanks SIC for the link......ESPN cut it off at the questions, so I got to watch the entire thing. Much appreciated!

Les Miles has to pay 1.5 million if he takes the Michigan job too, LSU pu t that in his contract. That's a pretty steep price for some one who is not going to give you much more than any one on your staff.

Personally if you watch LSU this year too they are winning off pure talent, I don't think Les Miles is that great of a coach. But that's just my opinion.

Hmmm, the Les thing is looking like anything but a forgone conclusion. Wether or not that's good i have no opinion on yet. I've seen him make some awfully gutsy calls this year- calls that may have been absolutely reckless- but everyone forgets that in the post-winning celebration. The guy definitely plays to win and not "not to lose". Is it worth it? I'm not so sure.

Just think- if we bought Tressell a Subway franchise maybe we could offer Maurice a job as a sandwich artist when he gets out.

And my vote is for hiring John Cooper: that guy really knows how get Michigan a win.

And Maize: I totally agree. It was the right time for the team and the program. The man totally deserves our respect for walking away, can't be an easy thing to do.

Texas fan here; we beat Les Miles' OkState teams four years running and only one win was even close. In 2004, his team blew a 35-point lead against Texas in Stillwater and that is quite an accomplishment, even against a team quarterbacked by Vince Young. You guys better be careful what you wish for.

Growing up as a Buckeye fan in the 90s, I can honestly say I had no love for Lloyd Carr. Through the perspective of time and also a reversal in recent fortunes, I now can say that he is certainly a class act as a coach and a man of integrity. To me, he represents that old stodgy ball coach that personified this game before my time. Although he goes out with a bad recent history, I will certainly never forget his success or the way in which he competed.

Lee Corso said some very nice things. He mentioned that Lloyd Carr will leave pieces of himself with each of his players. I agree. He is a class act and has been a tremendous influence in the lives of hundreds of young men. I will miss him.

Saturday was not his fault. His only fault is his loyalty, I realized. That putz Mike Debord has no business coaching football in any capacity. I like Ron English and I hope that he will stay on as DC.

As for our next coach, I am still iffy on Les Miles. He is a good coach, but he is no Jim Tressel or Jim Leavitt. I say go after Brian Kelly. Another really interesting option--and I really want to know what everyone else thinks about this--is to talk to Chuck Martin, the current coach of two-time D-II champs GVSU. He succeeded Brian Kelly a few years ago and is now on 38-game winning streak. He could be our Tressel, minus the Uggs.

Word of advice from an old Buckeye fan, make sure a committee is formed and take considerable time in finding a replacement for a man of such integrity as Lloyd Carr or you may end up with a complete ***hole like John Cooper that you somehow can't ever get rid of. The Wolverines deserve the best and sometimes you find it right in your own backyard.I'm also skeptical about Miles but guess it's none of my business so i'm gone...

I have to say as sad as I was to see Michigan lose Saturday the thought that Coach Carr was retiring on Monday made it even worse for me. I used to think he was a stuffy, gruff SOB, once my daughter started attending UofM I started watching more and really looked forward to his sideline humor with the reporters. One of my favorites was last year when we were beating Notre Dame at halftime so bad and the reporter asked Coach Carr "did you imagine you would be beating Notre Dame like this at halftime" and Coach Carr said "I really don't have much imagination" I loved it, and I hope Coach Carr has a great life, he has done great things for Michigan Football.

P.S. Do not hire Les Miles, winners win wherever they coach he should already have a National Championship with the talent he has at LSU, he'll lose in the SEC championship game and drop this year especially if Georgia winds up number 1 in the East.

Agree, Rex. I always looked forward to Carr making a nice lunch out of some idiot sideline reporter...

But did you ever notice that he only put on the gruff act during sideline interviews with male (won't grace them with the title men) sideline reporters? He was always a gentleman with women. Even if they asked the same idiotic question that one of their male counterparts would have asked, Carr was always unfailingly polite and gracious with them - even though you could just tell he detested the question.

T9: I second Crock's question - are you hearing something from within the compound that we're not hearing?

I think that one major problem with Cooper was that he didn't understand the Rivalry. He thought it was another game. I don't know enough about the 90s, so I don't know if it was his coaching or if he didn't get his players to wake up to beat Michigan. Oh well, yay for us. To bad I wasn't a fan then to enjoy it. (I fell in love with Michigan football when I attended UM. Unfortunately, I have only been able to enjoy one win against OSU since becoming a fan.)

That said, Miles understands the rivalry. Still, despite his gutsy calls this year, I do not see him as having the same coaching acumen as Tressel, Jim Leavitt, Grobe, Tedford, or Brian Kelly, who would be great. (I love Carr. Debord sucks.) And smart guys from the region can come to understand the rivalry, especially as long as Lloyd Carr is around.

If we had balls we'd look long and hard at Chuck Martin. GVSU is Division II but he took what Brian Kelly started and made it even more dominate and untouchable. He was D Coord for Kelly during their championship runs and then led them to 2 in a row as HC and the nation's longest (by a mile) winning streak. UM is a helluva long way from Div II, though. He may be too wet behind the ears.

If Les is even already looking at homes in AA, then he has the job. I find it surprising that he would take the Michigan job without first winning the SEC. Maybe he sees what may become of LSU's QB-to be's potential legal problems, and realizes he better get out while the getting is good with or without the SEC trophy.

OOC, that is a rumor. Don't believe everything you read. I personally have a difficult time believing that a house would already have been purchased at this point. Especially for someone that is going to want to sit on any decision that may or may not have been made yet.

Looking back on the season it seems the that 8 game win streak in the middle had a pair of complimentary bookends for the start and finish of the season. In the first two games we were embarrassed and humiliated because our defense couldn't do crap. In the last two games we were embarrassed and humiliated because our offense couldn't do crap. I guess you have to at least give a small tip of the hat to English for getting his group of men to improve. DeBord simply deserves a kick in the ass at the Ann Arbor city border line along with a "Don't bother coming back".

I also had some thoughts about what has happened this season as relates to Carr especially - and the entire coaching staff. Let's think about the changes in Carr's contract - and the unprecedented change he got for his staff.

Everyone knows that when you're in a do-or-die battle that when and if you create a "fall back" plan - falling back is almost always what happens. In order to overcome a major obstacle (aka Slimy Sweatervest from tOSU) and to win a war (UM vs. tOSU) you MUST be 100% committed. So what was the thinking in Carr's mind when he made those contract changes? I'm thinking he must have been thinking something along these lines: "Ok, I'm currently 1-5 against Tressel. There's no way I'll ever get back to 50% in this series before I WANT to retire. If I win next year (2007) I can retire and go out on top. If I lose next year, there's no way the Michigan faithful will support me any more and I may even get fired. So, either way 2007 is my last year. Tressel has forced me into retirement before I really wanted to - but this is the way it is."

Even if my guess as to what was in Carr's mind before the season started is only 10% true - that's enough to wreak havoc on yourself, your staff, and your young men on the team. I think Carr may very well have mentally sabotaged this season before it even got started. And now, looking back on the results for the year, I think the outcomes actually support this hypothesis. He even stated in his press conference today that he knew before the season started that he would retire at the end of this season.

Carr is a class act. He's a good man and he's done a lot of good for UM and Michigan football. Thank you for 1997 and all of the accomplishments! That said, Carr signed the surrender papers to Tressel last winter in his contract. It's now time for him to step aside to allow someone else to step up to the task of gaining domination of Tressel.

I wish Carr all the best. I pray NONE of his assistants will become our next head coach. And I pray that Martin will have the wisdom and ability to bring in Miles or Kelly.

Either Carr is a class act or he's not. You say he is and then go to great lengths to prove he's not. If Carr sabotaged the team this year with his calculations concerning retirement, I'd be tempted to call that a slimy act of self-preservation.

I think your hypothesis is interesting, but I don't buy it. I believe Carr is a class act (as I do Tressel uggs and all) and doesn’t think along those lines.

Someone on ESPN said something that struck me regarding Carr. He is too grown up to base his decision to leave or not on his record against any particular coach.

BTW everyone, Michigan is about to get slighted again by the bowls. Capital One and Outback will probably pass on Michigan even though we beat Illinois and finished 2nd in the Big Ten. Wisconsin gets the nod over us because they had a creampuff OOC schedule, nevermind the fact that they almost lost to Citadel.

This is bullshit. We lost to Wisco on the road in a game that didn't matter. We beat Penn State and Illinois, who both beat Wisconsin. And I should add that we beat Illinois.

I'm going to complain about this. Not about bad calls, or anything else, but about this. This is not fair. In 1997 Tom Osbourne got the championship as a retirement present. In 2005 Iowa got the Outback over us. And whether we deserved a rematch or not last year, the ultimate decision was controversial, and Michigan did feel robbed even though it didn't complain. This year, it looks like Michigan is going to get completely robbed.

i'm no journalist, just saying what i'm hearing when I put my ear to the ground.and I believe my ear.

plus Lloyd made a point of repeating over and over things about a clean program, playing within the rules etc etcand he made a comment about things that happen along the recruiting trail and how you put those things behind you. swipes at Miles???? maybe.

He didn't say much about sticking around the program, which seems odd for someone so dedicated to it. Not, however, an odd statement if you already know who the new coach will be and whether or not you can work with him.

And he made a slip of sorts regarding recruiting and not "wasting" the single visit the head coach gets. He talked about the new coach being able to go out and "secure" the recruiting class.That's why I'm predicting an announcement once the SEC title is decided. ie, pre-bowl. That's my call on the situation.

And, lastly, Jim Carty's article in the A2 News is all about how great a guy Les Miles is and Carty's visit to Baton Rouge and the Miles' house earlier this year.Uh, why the heck was Carty down there investigating a piece if people didn't already know it was Miles?????

I admit that I'm not great at math, but this is all starting to add up.

Personally, I'd like to see Michigan go for someone from either one of the directional schools (EMU, CMU, WMU), a lower tier Division IA school (the Navy coach would be awesome, he turned them around very well), a Division IAA or Division II school. Preferably someone who has made somewhat of a name for himself. They would be an unknown quantity and might surprise some folks. I think this is a time for rolling the dice.

For what its worth, ESPN MNF just did a spot on NFL coaches who might be interested in the job. They listed Jon Gruden & Bobby Petrino.

Gruden seems like a stretch but nfl rumors have for sometime swirled that Petrino regrets the move to the nfl & tha Blank may let him out of his K if he leaves the NFL.

A year ago Bobby would have been at the top of the list.

I agree w/ T9 & others that Lloyd's speech seemed more "burying the hatchet" than anything else, so it could be Les has it locked already.

IMHO- coaching isn't rocket science- even the "brilliant" ones do stupid shit like going for it on 4th & 1 from their own 29 in the first half. A lot of it is enthusiasm, prep, judging talent, and having balls. After 13 years of ALWAYS doing the "smaat" thing? I could give a little testosterone driven balls out stupidity for a change. We won't sit around bitching how we played not to lose, at least.

I just read Carty's piece on Miles. I have to agree with T9, this seems like a sure thing. With Carr staying on as assistant AD, that will help keep the program clean.......as Miles would say "Let 'er Rip!!!"

I am a UT grad and I live in the D/FW area. It is difficult for me to get in-depth coverage of UM athletics and happenings. (The UM-OSU game story in the Sunday Morning News was buried on page 3 of the inside of the sports section and the brief AP story in this morning's DMN regarding Carr's impending retirement was relegated to page 7 of the sports section.) I did not have a chance to see the news conference today, so pardon me for asking a question to which everyone may already know the answer. My question(s)is as follows: did UM outline a process today for selecting the new coach? Specifically, will Carr be part of the selection process and were any timelines for getting the new coach onboard mentioned?

I forget the percentages and they were based on the NFL but sometimes it's better to just go for it rather than punt. The average NFL play gets about 5 or 6 yards (or something). So why give up a down in short yardage? Other than not having to face the bobbleheads the next day.

Carr said that he would be involved only if asked by Martin. (Something to that effect)

I did not hear what Martin said in his presser, however if you go to MLive Ann Arbor (google it) You will find all the write ups from the Ann Arbor News and there is one on what Martin had to say about the search.

I did read he is putting together a search committee. It doesn't sound as if we are going to hear anything soon, if it is a lock on Miles, likely after the SEC championship we could hear, however I bet we won't hear until after January 7th. just my opinion, which seems to change as often as the wind this week, so take it for what it is worth. :o)

I hope Michigan goes for a small program coach with a record of winning with integrity. Nothing is worth sacrificing our reputation as a clean program. A $1.5M contract buyout to get Les Miles would be a step in the wrong direction.

Lysa: I've never been one to shy away from trying to make a woman's night, glad i could help. Let's see, that makes one woman's night in *counts days-scratch that weeks-scratch that...* oh hell, nevermind.

A few helpful links to help you guys have informed discussions about the coaching search. Note I didn't say "intelligent", just informed.

And just for the record I'm making no judgment as to Kelly or that situation, I was living in either Ohio or the Caribbean when it all went down and don't have the facts.Just stating that Carty's comments could be rather damning, as perception is reality. Whether or not the man was in the wrong he still had to defend himself. Can't imagine the university putting itself in such a situation. Too bad b/c by all accounts the guy can coach.

Discounting Les Miles because he lost 1 game to Tressel while coaching Ok St is about as brilliant as believing that Cooper was the perfect guy for OSU based upon his 1 win over Bo while he was coaching ASU.

Interesting indeed Whets! Am I the only one feeling a slight tingle, a little buzz in the air.....a shimmer of fear.......Michigan has an opportunity to have something exciting happen here, and the risk of something horrible as well.

Take a look at what Brian has posted on mgoblog. A letter from a John Eagal - and Brian's comments following the letter pretty much support my contention. And contrary to what you seem to believe - I still do believe that Carr IS a class act. He just wasn't 100% on his game this year - and that caused the major problems.

I read the letter and the comments. The gist of it is that Lloyd lost his fastball and should have retired a year earlier. I wouldn't argue that. In fact, I don't know if that's really true or not--interesting hypothesis though.

Your previous comments portray Lloyd as thinking in a premeditated and self-serving way because of the corner Tressel put him in. That's what I have trouble accepting. I don't think Carr thinks along those lines.

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